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Rubio May still want NY

What Do You Think?

But Ricky Rubio set the bar high for himself with his precocious play. Along the way, he has won championships at every level. Rubio made his professional debut at 14 with DKV Joventut in the ACB league of Spain, mesmerizing spectators with his creativity and basketball acumen.

In 2009, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected him fifth over all in the N.B.A. draft. He elected to stay in Spain, moving across town to F.C. Barcelona, one of the most prominent basketball teams in Europe.

The team won a Euroleague title last season with Rubio playing a somewhat secondary role. For much of the decisive action of the Euroleague Final Four, he watched from the bench. Rubio was just a rookie at this level, and people said he still had a lot to learn.

Last summer, Rubio had a golden opportunity to showcase himself as the future of Spanish basketball, playing for the national team in the world championships in Turkey. With Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon out with an injury and Pau Gasol electing to stay home after winning an N.B.A. title with the Los Angeles Lakers, this was Rubio’s ship to steer.

Instead, Rubio struggled. He shot 28 percent from the field, including 2 of 17 from 3-point range, and averaged 4 points in 25 minutes over nine games. Spain, the defending champion, lost in the quarterfinals. For the first time, cracks began to appear in the Rubio hype machine.

“I didn’t feel good last summer,” Rubio said last month in a postgame interview in Vilnius, Lithuania. “I was nervous. That was the first time I didn’t play well. It was an experience for me. It helped me to learn, to appreciate when things go well that you’re doing the good stuff; when things go wrong, you have to learn, to practice more, to improve more.”

Though 28 games in the 2010-11 season, Rubio has continued to struggle. He is shooting just 32 percent from the field, including 11 of 61 from beyond the arc, and his team has lost more games in the ACB and in the Euroleague than it did all of last season.

Why has Rubio’s development stalled?

Will he be able to turn his potential into production?

Always the youngest pro player on the court, Rubio found it natural to act as a selfless distributor and to defer to those with seniority. That is a defining characteristic of European basketball, particularly in Spain, where it is considered disrespectful for an individual to put himself above the team. Most Valuable Player awards are for the American leagues. All that matters are wins and losses.

That mind-set was a big part of Rubio’s upbringing and could be a major reason he is having a hard time taking the reins for Barcelona. The concept of team has been so ingrained that he appears hesitant to put his teammates on his back.

Among all the magical passes, the biggest complaint about Rubio’s game is that he is too unselfish for his own good.

“I try to help the team,” Rubio said. “It doesn’t matter if you have to score 50 points or zero. If I help the team, I don’t think of my stats.”

The best boon to his development might be to play in the N.B.A., where the best point guards are not only great passers but are also able to carry a team with their scoring. In the more-wide-open N.B.A. style, Rubio could flourish.

The Timberwolves continue to push him toward the N.B.A. as soon as possible, contending privately that they have a commitment from him for next season. But Rubio’s camp does not appear to be convinced.

“The bottom line is, why would he want to play in Minnesota?” a senior member of Rubio’s camp said this month. “He’ll continue to say all the diplomatic things, and Minnesota needs to keep his value up for trade purposes, but the family’s preference is to be on the East Coast, specifically New York, Miami or Boston. He wouldn’t be troubled if he has to stay another year.”

But the Timberwolves have leverage. They hold his exclusive draft rights, meaning they are the only N.B.A. team with whom he can negotiate. Their latest strategy in trying to persuade Rubio to sign may center on the possible N.B.A. lockout of players after the collective bargaining agreement expires June 30. The terms of the new agreement will probably be significantly less favorable for rookies.

According to Larry Coon, an expert on the collective bargaining agreement, Rubio has the option of signing his rookie contract until June 30. Under the terms of the current agreement, that deal would begin in 2011-12 and run through 2014-15, with the final two years as team options. His salary next season would reflect the rookie scale for players picked in the 2011 draft.

By doing so, Rubio would risk losing that salary if the 2011-12 season were to be wiped out by a lockout. He could not return to play in Europe to earn a living. Even if the labor dispute was resolved before the end of the season, he might not have the benefit of playing in the summer league or participating in training camp to help him acclimate.

He could also be passing up a significant amount of money if he did sign. Under the current agreement, an unsigned player who is three years removed from his draft class is no longer bound by the restrictions of the N.B.A. rookie scale, allowing him to negotiate a contract for as much money as the team that holds his rights has under the salary cap. The new labor agreement may not allow such maneuvering.

Rubio will have to make a decision once his season ends in June. Does he stay with Barcelona or reunite with his coach from Joventut, possibly with Real Madrid? Can he make the jump to the N.B.A., and will it be with the Timberwolves?

“I’m not focused on the N.B.A. right now,” Rubio said. “Right now, I don’t want to talk and I don’t want to think.”

“I try to help the team,” Rubio said. “It doesn’t matter if you have to score 50 points or zero. If I help the team, I don’t think of my stats.”

Typical response from an underachiever, duh Ricky your stats do matter, like me people are going to say if he can't put up numbers in the Euro League what chance does he have in the NBA. Let him go to Minnesota.

“I try to help the team,” Rubio said. “It doesn’t matter if you have to score 50 points or zero. If I help the team, I don’t think of my stats.”

Typical response from an underachiever, duh Ricky your stats do matter, like me people are going to say if he can't put up numbers in the Euro League what chance does he have in the NBA. Let him go to Minnesota.

Actually, Brandon Jennings didn't put up numbers in Europe either. You have to understand Europe and USA are totally different ways to play basketball.

Jose Calderon wasn't a good shooter before joining the Raptors. He didn't need it, this wasn't his role in Europe. So many european players increase their numbers once they are in the NBA. Your league is much more individually focused. So many games during the regular season and one on one defense helps it.

I'd bet you anything you want on Ricky being a doble figures scorer in the NBA. I've seen enough basketball on both sides to say that.

Actually, Brandon Jennings didn't put up numbers in Europe either. You have to understand Europe and USA are totally different ways to play basketball.

Jose Calderon wasn't a good shooter before joining the Raptors. He didn't need it, this wasn't his role in Europe. So many european players increase their numbers once they are in the NBA. Your league is much more individually focused. So many games during the regular season and one on one defense helps it.

I'd bet you anything you want on Ricky being a doble figures scorer in the NBA. I've seen enough basketball on both sides to say that.

I'll bet he doesn't avg. 20ppg in the NBA like so many people expect him to. He's got another year of experience and the Euro 3 pt line is shorter than the NBA, so he should be scoring more points. If he falls in the Knicks lap for nothing or at most a second rounder I might take a chance on him but he's a gamble to me if Mn wants a decent player or a 1st rounder for his rights.

BTW, Brandon Jennings was just out of HS and playing in his 1st year as a pro on any level and clashed with his coach so how was he going to score any points when he wasn't even getting playing time.

I'll bet he doesn't avg. 20ppg in the NBA like so many people expect him to. He's got another year of experience and the Euro 3 pt line is shorter than the NBA, so he should be scoring more points. If he falls in the Knicks lap for nothing or at most a second rounder I might take a chance on him but he's a gamble to me if Mn wants a decent player or a 1st rounder for his rights.

BTW, Brandon Jennings was just out of HS and playing in his 1st year as a pro on any level and clashed with his coach so how was he going to score any points when he wasn't even getting playing time.

Big fat lie. Brandon Jennings choked in Europe. Period. We could talk about Gary Neal too, if you want. And now he's a 6th man scorer for the best team of the regular season.

If i have had a penny each time i discussed about this kind of subject with an american basketball fan... It's not worth it.

And yeah, i don't think Ricky Rubio is a 20 ppg player either. But who the **** thinks that? People who has never seen him play, i supose. Rubio's a Rajon Rondo kind of pg. Defense, slashing and tons of assists. He could put up +10 apg with his eyes closed in the NBA. By the way, one of the reasons that make me believe he could score more in the NBA than he currently does in Europe is the 3p line distance. He would have a lot more space to drive to the basket.

Assists are much stricter to score in European basketball too, aren't they?

I remember reading that someone watched one of his games and concluded that his 8 assist game would've been like a 15 assist one under normal NBA rules, or something like that

Basically, in order to be considered an assist a pass in Europe has to be undeniably responsible for the points scored. That means, no assist if the player receiving the ball makes one single dribble with the ball, has to fade away or fake. No assist if the shot is seriously contested. In other words, it has to lead for an easy basket. Almost the only way you can score an assist in Europe is in fastbreaks, alley-oops or finding an open man who shots immediately.

From Kelly Dwyer on Yahoo. IMO, Rubio would need to become a better shooter and esp. a 3 pt shooter to play in D'Antoni's offense. It's all moot anyway because by the time Rubio decides he wants his NBA shot D'Ants probably won't be here.

Don't expect to see Ricky Rubio in the NBA any time soon

By Kelly Dwyer

Ricky Rubio(notes) wants nothing to do with the Minnesota Timberwolves. And the Timberwolves, owners of perhaps the league's worst one-two point-guard duo in Luke Ridnour(notes) and Jonny Flynn(notes), might still be better served without Rubio coming stateside. It's a sad state of affairs, for both states.

Rubio was drafted by the Timberwolves back in 2009, in a move that never seemed like a good idea. It was a stretch even then, with Rubio's stock at an all-time high, that the Spanish point guard would come to the NBA at such a young age. And when you throw in the rebuilding process the Timberwolves were under, and the (I'm sorry) less-than-marquee setting of Minnesota home games (in relative terms, to a kid thinking of New York or Los Angeles), it's no surprise that nearly two years later the Timberwolves are no closer to bringing Rubio over.

And a column in Sunday's New York Times isn't helping either side of this mess.

It paints a picture of a struggling youngster who is completely and utterly disinterested in all things NBA, and completely willing (as has been the case for a while) to wait out the three-year rookie scale term that the NBA places on draftees. Come 2012, Rubio could negotiate a deal with the Timberwolves for whatever amount they have under the cap, which would then make it easier for Rubio to put together a sign-and-trade for his services. Because, let's face it, he's never going to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Not that they should want him, anyway.

As quoted by Jonathan Givony:

Though 28 games in the 2010-11 season, Rubio has continued to struggle. He is shooting just 32 percent from the field, including 11 of 61 from beyond the arc, and his team has lost more games in the ACB and in the Euroleague than it did all of last season.

[...]

"I try to help the team," Rubio said. "It doesn't matter if you have to score 50 points or zero. If I help the team, I don't think of my stats."

Yeah, you probably should think of your stats. It might stop you from taking over two 3-pointers a game, when you only (on average) make one nearly every three games.

Rubio has long been a strange comp. His passing skills tend to excite, but he shoots in a way that would make even high-assist/poor-shooting point guards like Brevin Knight(notes) or Rajon Rondo(notes) blush. The fear in 2011 is the same that it was in 2009: Rubio can pass, sure, but what's the point when teams are going to play him for the pass, and back off of his terrible shot?

And then there's this:

"The bottom line is, why would he want to play in Minnesota?" a senior member of Rubio's camp said this month. "He'll continue to say all the diplomatic things, and Minnesota needs to keep his value up for trade purposes, but the family's preference is to be on the East Coast, specifically New York, Miami or Boston. He wouldn't be troubled if he has to stay another year."

Which is unfortunate, because Minnesota (as a city, at least, if not a franchise) has so much to offer. And that's not me being diplomatic.

A year and a half later, this is still a terrible move for the Timberwolves. They put themselves, and Rubio, into an awful situation. Youngsters with leverage and a paying gig in a league that they like aren't going to drop everything to nearly work pro bono (because Rubio would have to use his own money in a buyout package just to get out of his international contract) just to chase the NBA dream. And assuming that he was going to give it all up just for the right to play in the NBA was an incredibly naïve (and a little insulting) move by the Timberwolves. These aren't farmboys, wowed by the lights.

But that's what's to be expected from a team that chose both Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio two and five spots before Stephen Curry(notes) and Brandon Jennings(notes) were selected.

“I try to help the team,” Rubio said. “It doesn’t matter if you have to score 50 points or zero. If I help the team, I don’t think of my stats.”

Typical response from an underachiever, duh Ricky your stats do matter, like me people are going to say if he can't put up numbers in the Euro League what chance does he have in the NBA. Let him go to Minnesota.

Actually this is a typical response from a European born professional (see Gallo). For Euro basketball, it is ingrained in their psyche to always play for the team, not yourself. They never care about stats over there. If they contribute and the team wins, that is all that matters. And you will never, NEVER, hear a Euro athlete say any different.

I wonder if this is why all the Randolph to POR or INDY stuff is getting leaked. Is Walsh pressuring MIN to give in to a Randolph-Rubio swap?

Also, sounds like Rubio wouldn't mind playing in MIA. LOL! NO kiding.

I'll take Felton over Rubio nest season. So what's the point?

Imagine if MIN had:

Curry
Derozan
Beasley
Love
Darko

W-Johnson (6th man).

LOL! Serves them right for messing that draft up with the insance decision to draft 2 PGs.

Exactly. Those mugs ****ed up so much. Look, I like Felton a good deal; but it still haunts me when I watch GSW clips or check out Curry's game lines. And the fact that he wanted to play for us...I just don't get why Walsh didn't place a premium on securing a higher draft spot by trade, when we knew the PG rich draft was so essential for our team w D'ant, and it was so top heavy after the first 6-7 potential slots.

Not to mention, this was before Chandler started playing better (he was the trade bait option), and not to mention, this would have in effect resolved the issue of his looming salary hike and payday, since Walsh was never going to sign him until waiting this season over.

Potentially, we'd be looking at:

Curry
Fields
Gallo
Melo-Turiaf
STAT-Moz
6th Williams/Douglas/Walker

Curry
Gordon
Melo
STAT
Turiaf

If you really want to dream.

Anyways, Rubio to MIA actually makes sense. I don't want to think how good they could be tho.

We wouldn't have pulled off the Jeffries trade without trading Jordan Hill. If we had somehow gotten Stephen Curry, odds are he or Gallo or Chandler would've had to been traded, or we simply don't pull off the Jeffries trade at all.

If we don't pull off the Jefries trade then we probably don't get Amar'e because I don't think Amar'e would've signed with the Knicks if there weren't at least the possibility of the Knicks coming away with two max free agents

We wouldn't have pulled off the Jeffries trade without trading Jordan Hill. If we had somehow gotten Stephen Curry, odds are he or Gallo or Chandler would've had to been traded, or we simply don't pull off the Jeffries trade at all.

If we don't pull off the Jefries trade then we probably don't get Amar'e because I don't think Amar'e would've signed with the Knicks if there weren't at least the possibility of the Knicks coming away with two max free agents

True. That's prolly exactly how itd have played out. Walsh was intent on trading the giraffe; as evidenced by what we gave up in the dump. And if we didn't, or even if we did but had to give up more proven assets, Amare maybe doesn't come. I think it's 50-50, on that one, but 100% Walsh gives up whatever itd have taken to dump Jeffries if Hill isn't there